Slide & Negative Scanning

Even with the dark areas this slide scanned almost perfect and the print looks amazing!

I get many clients that come in asking about prints from slides and negatives. Many have heard that it is impossible to get quality prints without spending a fortune. They are just checking one last time before they toss their old slides and negatives. I show them some of the slides and negatives that I have scanned and printed and they are shocked at the amazing quality and how affordable it is.

Why the confusion

A Fuji slide from late 80’s

Well first many people have heard about bulk scanning businesses and how bad they are. Some of these are run out of people’s damp basements. They do scans for $0.50 per slide or less and they are GARBAGE!!! They don’t clean the slides or negatives first. Nothing is done to fix color casts and they scan on low resolution so the final result is HORRIBLE!!

Second there are lots of photographers that like to brag about the $200 – $500 scan they had done by a professional scanning service. They tell everyone that this is the only way to scan film or negatives to digital. This scares many into thinking this is the only way to do it and nobody can afford to scan 100 slides at $200 each.

I have scanned and printed tens of thousands of slides and negatives and they look GREAT!

A slide from back in the mid 80’s

WHAT IS BEST????

I had one local photographer that was offered a free scan of a couple of their slides by a pro scanning company in Vancouver. After that company scanned the slides I scanned them. When compared side by side on my monitor and in prints mine looked as good or better!!!

So why the difference? Many times it is the setting of the scanner, sometimes it is just taking an extra second or two to tweak the color and density or sometimes it is having to adjust the file afterwards. Many places miss this part of the process.

What to do??

If you have old slides and negatives don’t toss them. Get them scanned and preserved for the next generation!

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